Robinson family murders....i'm looking for info.

[Marcy]

Where was any referance to "Robert Anderson"? Did I miss it somewhere....was afraid for him self and his family but didn't have anything useful for detectives! Sounds ludicrious to me !!!!

[Paul]

Marcy wrote:

Where was any referance to "Robert Anderson"? Did I miss it somewhere....was afraid for him self and his family but didn't have anything useful for detectives! Sounds ludicrious to me !!!!

Page 55, When Evil Came to Good Hart.

[Ken]

Tim wrote:

<quoted text>
Robison was a very eccentric man. Sure we can look at Scolaro as being the sociopath, but I think due to Robison's narcissism and megalomania he fell scheme to this Roebert. This 'Roebert' was either a real figure of wealth with perhaps some bad connections. Or, he was Robison's real father. Or he never existed. I am just a firm believer that Scolaro didn't act alone.
It's kind of hard to believe that Scolaro would have conjured up 'Roebert' and the 'Superior Table', thinking Robison would fall for it. If that is the case this, his murder must have been premeditated for quite some time. In the end, Joe's fake scheme would have been found out anyway. So why the murder(s)? I've always felt there is much more to this than what we know...

I think THAT is the issue here. We are convinced WHO did it but the why and how and the pieces of the whole picture just don't come together and make any sense. There's nothing logical about it. It's like you emptied about 4 puzzles out on the floor and then scooped up a box full, left it and cleaned up the rest and now none of it goes together as a whole. You have little sections over here and there that make sense by themselves but don't fit into one picture, but not to the point where you can decide for sure that they don't belong to the whole picture.

[KJJ]

I agree with Tim and Marcy. Always have had this same gut feeling of other persons of interest in the case. And, that has never quite been ruled out. And, finally Me Too is right on the mark. Secretaries are way under rated in what they know. My gals know things before I do. They are very discreet, but they hear everything.

[chuck]

In regards to the posts about the secretary(ies) and what they knew or know. The blogger was referring to Robison's secretaries. Solarno's mother came into the picture as a secretary only after Robison was murdered and he took over the business.
I agree the secretaries must know something should have been questioned more. This was covered in Mardi's book, however, I did not get the impression
the cops really followed up on this as well as they
should have. Secretaries generally do see and hear
much.

[KJJ]

Thank you, Chuck. I think we all could be on to something vital. Persistence is a good thing.

[Richard-Petoskey]

The people who were around Scolaro in 1968 knew he was different -- something about him not right--but he was a master of smokescreens and people were just psychologically unsophisticated at that point in time. Even police/FBI were not quite yet on to the "new type of killer- & criminal mind" they were starting to encounter in US.

These types had always been with us and may have been what "evil personified" had always been talked about throughout mankind's history. They have no conscience--no soul--no guilt- no remorse and Robert Anderson who worked with Scolaro saw it but didn't quite know how to characterize it.

The two MSP detectives saw it too but did not really see the depth of the deception--the depth of the personality disorder that came into play in this case. TODAY, forensic criminologists/profilers/psych ologists would immediately spot what they were dealing with. YET, these types still exist and thus the campaign by Rockford, Illinois CPA/lawyer Frank Perri to have the designation "Fraud Detection Homicide" be included in the FBI's crime labeling system.

FRAUD was detected by Mr.Robison--HOMICIDE by the perp to keep it from being made public then took place ----"unbelievable brutality" used to help throw off suspicion to the "All American" appearing perp!! Lies/smokecreens/spin/ denial/etc employed to keep case from being resolved--when that was coming to an end--SUICIDE and more false denial to obfuscate the case forever in the minds of many!!!

[Katrina]

Richard-Petoskey wrote:

FRAUD was detected by Mr.Robison--HOMICIDE by the perp to keep it from being made public then took place ----"unbelievable brutality" used to help throw off suspicion to the "All American" appearing perp!! Lies/smokecreens/spin/ denial/etc employed to keep case from being resolved--when that was coming to an end--SUICIDE and more false denial to obfuscate the case forever in the minds of many!!!

Very well put Richard, I really do think that he was the sole perp. As I've stated before, the element of surprise would be enough to effectively "get" everyone in a very short period of time. Think of a family sitting around on a "normal" evening and suddenly the father is hit, then that person bursts in and starts shooting everyone else. Chaos, would reign. I think it's pretty amazing that the boys even had the presence of mind to go for the gun in the bedroom closet. Even though I've thought about what I would do in that circumstance, I think that the reality of the situation would first be pure panic unless I were in another room. AND as I understand it, these people were all in the same room without many escape routes.

[Rick]

Just logged on, and my Yahoo home page lists the "most popular searches" of the moment. Interestingly, one of them was Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood". The seemingly random murders of a wealthy farm family in a rural area happened 50 years ago this November 15th. The article goes on to talk about how Holcomb, Kansas is still deeply affected by the murders, and has felt little closure even though the two perpetrators were caught and broght to justice.
I always thought the two events shared some parallels... but only in the method and characteristics of the crime itself. Unfortunatley the parallel ends there, as the Robison killer(s) have never been broght to justice.

[Paul]

I have a couple of questions after watching my Petoskey Library Forum DVD a second time. It was nice to have the event take place, too bad the sound wasn’t clearer.

A quote from Ed Goss...“there were many errors made in this investigation, there was too much intrusion into this particular case by wannabe detectives, some of them in the publishing business and some of them young troopers in the department, and these wannabes should have stayed out of it and they messed up the case” Other than the compromised crime scene the day the bodies were found, what was he referring to?

Also, the sound portion of the DVD was bad during the answer to the question about Scolaro borrowing a car on June 25th 1968, and if it was ever impounded for evidence. Was it determined that Scolaro borrowed a car from his repairman that day? If so, was it ever searched for evidence? What model was it?

If Scolaro did not borrow a car that day, what model car did he own at the time, and was it searched for evidence?

[Me too]

Richard-Petoskey wrote:

Dick's sister told me Scolaro was there for a stay with his family once or twice in the previous summers(1966 or 1967).Dick invited all of his employees to come up for a stay during his family's summer vacation. Remember too that Joe had a memory like a stell trap. His Army Security Agency job was based on his brillian memory.
Dick's businesses were shown to be worth (building, projected sales, etc etc)@600,000)in late 1966 but by the time Cal Mackey did an accounting in late 1968 the value had shrunk to almost nothing. The biggest client Delta Faucet had given away their account becuase of the fraud Joe had comitted with their ads (the same thing happened a year later when Joe's newest and biggest client Williams Gunsight left him becuase of billing fraud!!!)Also, many of the ads Scolaro had actually placed intrade mags were not paid for out of what Delta had sent him while Dick was away.The money for relatives came from selling the plane, house, office building to Scolaro for $45,000 and the savings in the bank.Scolaro also got the businesses for @$3,500 or so and within a year bankrupted it all!!!
If his tortured narcissistic mind believed he could run it better and that was one of his motivations for murder--it was once again just a case of his grandiose thoughts not being in touch with reality. He lost all employees of Dick's over time.
Some told investigators they suspected Joe from the beginning. One even said he feared for his life and left the Detroit area with his family.
Joe Scolaro was the "Bernie Madoff" of his time--he ran ponzi scheme after ponzi scheme until his death--he had a terrible sickness to gain money illegally and spend it frivously!!!
As you read report after report in the MSP case book it is so overwhelming obvious WHO WHY HOW this horrible even took place that it is like a 10,000 lb elephant in the middle of the room-so obvious it is not obvious!!!
Just because there were no fingerprints of the perp at the scene was no reason to not go ahead with the overpowering "circumstantial evidence" and try the case--building it step by step as did the 60 + page MSP SNYOPSIS for the Prosecution Report happened to do in May of 1970!!!
This was exactly what Oakland COunty was going to do!!!

I have always wondered why the so called meeting of Boxum ans Scolaro occured in Flint,Mi at the KFC, so far from the Detroit area. Why there? I just realized that the KFC is on the corner of Lapeer Rd and Dort Hwy. Williams Gun Sight is on located on Lapeer Rd only several miles directly east of this KFC.

[Katrina]

Once again, Richard there is no doubt in my mind that Scolaro did it and did it alone. Glad you're here to refresh our memories!!

[Me too]

Katrina wrote:

Once again, Richard there is no doubt in my mind that Scolaro did it and did it alone. Glad you're here to refresh our memories!!

My point in the previous post was perhaps there was some validity to the "Leavenworth connection". This so called meeting place was extremely close to one of Joe's clients. If he drove from Detroit to go to client's business he would pass by this KFC on the way. If you were from Detroit-Southfield area meeting people from Detroit, why pick this KFC. Familiarity! It's extremly close to the I-475-75 exit at Dort Hwy and you pass by it heading east out Lapeer Rd to Williams Gunsight.

[KJJ]

Good point, Me too!

[Tim]

I agree. Bloxum knew quite a few details that he shouldn't have otherwise known: Joe's car he was using, the manila envelope, the briefcase, dates/times, etc...Now, I am NOT saying that Scolaro DIDN'T have anything to do with this, I am just saying that it wouldn't hurt to keep your mind open...

[KJJ]

Ditto, Tim.

[Paul]

Tim wrote:

I agree. Bloxum knew quite a few details that he shouldn't have otherwise known: Joe's car he was using, the manila envelope, the briefcase, dates/times, etc...Now, I am NOT saying that Scolaro DIDN'T have anything to do with this, I am just saying that it wouldn't hurt to keep your mind open...

My minds been open to that idea all along to Tim. Bloxom knew quite a bit of acurate information, and Brock admitted to quite a bit except the murders when questioned by the detectives. He also did not take a lie detector test...

[Ken]

I have always felt like when the missing money calls hit the fan that Scolaro made a quick call to Bloxom and told him what happened and that they had to act NOW. There was no time for Bloxom to get clean weapons so Scolaro had to grab what he had available and the two of them headed north. For some reason I picture Scolaro being outside watching for trouble while Bloxom does the actual shooting, which would go with his suicide note about not killing them (semantics). I can see Scolaro doing all of the other acts except for the actual shooting. He has no actual experience in that. Getting an "Expert Marksman" medal, from my experience in the military consists mostly of managing to not hit the instructor. If you actually get inside the target, you rank up there with the snipers. Most people have never seen a weapon when they go to the shooting range. The concept of killing someone in battle, let alone in this case, is not the same as the actual act. Something just tells me Scolaro didn't have the guts to do the killing himself or at least alone. Rather than expert planning, the two of them just had blind luck and enough time to cover their tracks.

[KJJ]

Well said, Ken. Very well said. Early on in this blog, I said the same exact thing. People disagreed. Scolaro was gutless. This is one of those weird things in life that we will only find out the total truth in death. I'm not quite willing to die yet to find out!!

[Tim]

Ken wrote:

For some reason I picture Scolaro being outside watching for trouble while Bloxom does the actual shooting, which would go with his suicide note about not killing them (semantics). I can see Scolaro doing all of the other acts except for the actual shooting.

Ken, that is exactly how I have always pictured it. Though I see it happening maybe a short time after the family was settled following an argument between Robison and.....someone. This visitor was either Scolaro or someone in the guise of 'Roebert'. This unwelcome visitor came back shortly with a friend.